Author: y.cheref

I attended the Majors and Minors fair on Thursday during club hours. And seriously, I found out about Majors I didn’t even know existed, let alone majors that Baruch offers. Like Jewish Studies and  Spanish-English Translation and even Environmental  Sustainability. Which is super cool that Baruch has such a diverse Majors and minors collection.  I spoke to quite a few of the majors representatives and even though I would still like to stick to a certain track, it was very informative and it got me excited and interested in looking into my minor as well as my major. Like, even though I am still a freshman, it just made everything seem so tangible. And after I spoke to a couple of the people, they handed me a paper which listed the required courses and elective courses for whichever track I’d like to follow. And clearly I only went because I had to fufill the career requirement for the enrichment workshops and honestly, I didn’t stay that long but I am actually really glad that I went. Obviously some of the  popular majors representatives were completely  surrounded so it was hard to even here just a little bit of what they were saying,  but what I did here made me excited to just explore these areas. As of now I think I’m going to follow the marketing track, but just listening to the international business representative speak about the requirements and how much fun it would be if you follow the track, helped me changing my mind just a little bit. And that’s OK because I’m still a freshman— I still have time to decide what I want to do, especially since I came into the school with an undecided major. But as I said earlier, it was a way for me to find out more about the majors themselves, their requirements and the opportunities.  What sucks though, I just realized, is that because I was so focused on finding a major that suits me, or something I would love to do with my life, I didn’t really focus on the minors as much as I should have. I’ll be honest— I was one of those people crowding around the popular majors and I kind of just looked at the liberal arts majors and looked away, thinking that wasn’t for me. I didn’t even consider the fact that my minor would have to be liberal arts, so I didn’t exactly speak to any of them. I did hear snippets of their conversations but those people were  talking about majors so it wasn’t that interesting, and  it didn’t apply to me since I’d like to major in something business related. But yeah, overall I’m really glad I went. It was one of those things that I kind of dreaded going to, but then I was really glad that I went, and now I’m like, hey wow, I have freshman seminar to thank for this. So thanks, and it’s kind of bittersweet, this being my last blog post and all. *Insert crying emoji* It’s been real, DTB.  Stay lit.  

So my neighbor got a dog.
(Pause).
And not like a cute, adorable Husky or something– Nope, they went and picked up a Chihuahua. For the love of God, why would anyone want a Chihuahua? A Chihuahua who barks his head off every time one of his owner’s leaves the apartment. Every. Time.
So needless to say, I can’t even think straight if my neighbor isn’t home. So now, I spend as much time outside of my apartment as possible. You see, sensible people would get a cat, who doesn’t make so much as a peep. You’d think living in a NYC apartment, you’d have the common sense to get at the very least, a subdued dog. Even a dog that barks when the doorbell is rung would be fine.
And yes, I think Chihuahuas are extremely cute, but they’re annoying as all hell. All this nonstop barking from next door makes me want to rip my own hair out. If I was younger, I probably wouldn’t have minded, but I’m in college now. I have a lot of assignments to complete, and I can’t even complete them in the serenity of my home. All of that raucous barking drives me insane.
So on a scale of 1 to illegal, how bad would it be if I let him loose and he ‘ran’ away?
Pretty bad, huh?
(Pause).
Guess I’ll have to settle for ear plugs. *Eye roll*
I just wish I didn’t have to put up with this incessant barking. But the bright side is that I found this really cool cafe in Brooklyn called Coffe Rx. *Shrug* Beats my apartment any day– with or without the dog.
It may not be today, it may not be tomorrow, but I will get that dog!!! *Evil laugh*
Or uh.. Maybe I’ll just put on some headphones the next time he starts barking.

I attend the Math 2207 Weekly Workshop on Saturdays from 10-12. Our tutor is Arbrahm Tai, and although he can speak a bit fast, he’s extremely helpful. Calculus is a hard subject to teach, so for those of us (me) who need to hear concepts twice to understand them, tutoring is our Mecca. My specific tutor will ask us what we need help with- which is usually what we did in class that week- and start by explaining that subject. The best part is, even if one person doesn’t understand, he’ll stop and go back to reword his explanation, whereas in class, the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few. And even if you do understand it the first time, he’ll keep reiterating his point through the various practices problems he’ll give us— That is, if we don’t have our own problems that we need help with. He’s also really intelligent. He can make up a problem (that works out) off the top of his head. And his mental math abilities are extraordinary. In high school, I only took pre-calculus. So without the weekly tutoring, I would have been extremely lost. It’s a fast-paced course, and even with the tutoring, I don’t fully understand everything.  I hate to put anyone on the spot, but it in my opinion, my math professor really can’t teach.  Even if you ask her a question to help clarify, the question will go right over her head and her answer will make you think you asked something completely different. Math was always one of my strongest subjects, so it is shocking that I would have to go to tutoring, to not even master the subject, but to understand it.  I just had a math exam last week. I don’t think I failed it, and I don’t think I came close to failing it, but I didn’t do as well as I could have. And I am aware of that, so I am thinking of going to one on one tutoring as well as the math weekly workshop. I attended one on one tutoring last week before my exam, and the tutor wasn’t that good, which just made me appreciate Abraham more.  As I mentioned previously, the tutoring is on Saturdays, and so it is extremely difficult for me to get up early on the day that I’m supposed to sleep in, and every week I battle with myself. I give myself a bunch of reasons why I don’t need to go. “If I do the homework, I’ll understand it. I will just ask the professor next class. Maybe I’ll go to tutoring next week to catch up on what I missed.”  And even though I gave myself all those reasons, it just takes one reason to get me out of bed. All I do is remember what we learned in class that week and how utterly lost I was and, walla, I have never been out of my bed faster than that.  I felt it would be disrespectful taking a picture in tutoring, as sometimes people are insecure about going, so instead I provided a photo of Saturday’s notes.

On Sunday evening, I attended Daniel Colallio’s CD Release Concert @ the performing arts center. The experience was rather enchanting as he played very powerful music. He started the concert by walking on stage, walking straight to the piano, and belting out the first measures of Schubert (a composer from the early 1800s). He continued to play through his Schubert selections and on to his Scriabin pieces(composer from the late 1800s). When he finished one of the movements, he stood up, grabbed the mic, and told us a little anecdote. Four years prior to his concert last night, he got into a knife accident. It tore through his left hand and he ended up needing four stitches to repair the damage. He got very emotional as he recalled the fear of never playing again. Nevertheless, he preserved, and with hard work and practice and he gained back full control of his left hand. You can tell how thankful he was to be able to still play. Imagine, your whole career ripped away from you in the form of four stitches. You probably wouldn’t be able to handle the devastation. But alas, yesterday, he got on stage and performed a piece using entirely his left hand. It was such a strong and powerful piece as well–‘Prelude and Nocturne for the left hand alone Op. 9’ by Alexander Scriabin. I play Cello, so needless to say I enjoyed the concert very much. Although I was disheartened to see only myself and a bunch of elders attended the concert. Although to be fair I wouldn’t have known about it if it wasn’t for this assignment. Anyway, throughout the entire concert, Colalillo played entirely from memory. He didn’t have one piece of sheet music the entire time. Need I remind you it was a two hour concert. Colalillo managed to memorize two hours of repertoire and it didn’t seem like he messed up once. The talent behind those hands. And to top it all of he started playing piano when he was 15. Which is a very late age for musicians to start their training. But once again with hard work and dedication, he became the great pianist he is today. Which takes me back to the stitches. Music has to be something you absolutely adore in order to pursue a career in the classical music field. And for that to be ripped away from you so effortlessly is heartbreaking. Here’s someone who has the dedication, the passion to make a career out of music, and he almost lost all that. I’m pretty sure he steers clear of all knives or anything with a sharp edge. It was a truly inspiring anecdote, and if I learned anything it’s that if you want something bad enough, you have to put hard work and dedication into it. The end result will always be worth it. Huh, I guess this wasn’t totally useless after all.